In the performance of orthopedic surgery and related procedures, it is often necessary to support a portion of the patient's body including one or more limbs in a fixed position during the procedure, and also to vary the position from time to time. In some cases, operating room personnel manually support the particular extremity and change the position of the extremity as desired. The use of operating room personnel to support a patient during a surgical procedure is unsatisfactory in that the assistant supporting the extremity may tire and find it necessary to change position at some critical or otherwise inconvenient time. Additionally, pillows and other padded devices have been used. Such devices often obstruct the performance of surgery or related procedures and usually cannot provide overhead support for slings, hooks and the like.
Accordingly, various mechanical devices have been constructed and utilized for supporting and positioning body portions including limbs during the performance of surgery on a portion of a limb itself or a connecting joint. Such mechanical devices are adapted for mounting onto an operating table or a free standing platform and generally include surgical support apparatus overlying the sterile zone of the operating table. Such equipment may be clamped onto the side rail of the operating table and moved about from time to time as required by the surgical procedure. Free standing support equipment is not in widespread use for orthopedic procedures because of the stability requirements of such procedures.